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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Jul 28, 2010 15:56:19 GMT -5
"What a coincidence!" Esmé exclaimed enthusiastically to Klaus' statement, and clapped her hands. "My mother was French. Her family immigrated to the United States from France when she was still a young child. My father was the child of immigrates, too, from Israel. His grandfather was one of the original founders of Lucky Smells Lumbermill."
Jerome chuckled in response to Isadora's previous words. "Esmé and I heard Nero play at Parents' Day just last week. I had to fake an allergic reaction to salmon, just so Esmé and I could excuse ourselves after Nero's playing started to give her a headache."
"You'll never be able to convince Carmy of anything negative when it comes to her vice principal," Esmé pointed out. "She practically worships the ground he walks on."
"Don't tell anyone," Jerome added. "But she actually confessed a few weeks ago to having a little crush on him."
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Jul 28, 2010 16:11:13 GMT -5
"You're kidding!" gasped Violet. "Well, I always was under the impression that Carmelita was favoured by Vice Principal Nero - and, I must admit, I did sort of entertain the idea that he must be having... sexual relations... with her."
"Are you serious, Violet?" Quigley asked, aghast.
"Well, it upset me to think that Vice Principal Nero liked her, while he seemed to... hate... us. So, in a way, I actually hoped that he was doing... inappropriate things... with her. What I mean is, I actually preferred that idea over the idea of... the idea of him simply liking her better than us."
"I never really thought of it that way, before," Quigley replied, softly. "I understand being sensitive of the idea of... of not being liked by other people. Still..."
"Actually, I was even tempted to call up the folks at The Daily Punctilio," Violet confessed, "and fabricate a story of Vice Principal Nero having sexual relations with Carmelita - as well as Carmelita being a... a wh*re. Once, I even wanted to call her that - in the middle of the lunch room."
Violet turned to Emily, whose eyes were wide open.
OOC: I love that idea, Emma Squalor.
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Post by Seymour Glass on Jul 28, 2010 16:31:59 GMT -5
Klaus and Isadora were beyond shocked when they were told that Carmelita had a crush on Nero.
"It's hard to imagine Vice Principal Nero taking a sexual interest in anyone," Klaus said. "Especially since he acts like a child himself."
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Jul 29, 2010 10:45:32 GMT -5
The eyes of Esmé and Jerome had gone as round and as wide as those of little Emily. Jerome could feel Esmé trembling beside him. Immediately he laced his arm around her and pulled her close, lest her nerves caused her to fall and risk endangering the pregnancy.
Esmé put her own arms around her husband and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't like to admit it, but she'd already experienced those same concerns in relation to Carmelita and her vice principal. Of course, Esmé had dismissed it as being caused by her own past romance with a man so much older than herself. But she'd been older than Carmelita at the time, and besides, Olaf had been a villain. Nero could be a bit of a jerk at times, and he was definitely egotistical, but neither of the Squalors had ever seen anything villainous about the man. Although, favoring one child better over others wasn't exactly something a truly noble person did. No one knew this better than Jerome who, as a child, had been forced to stand by and watch his father favor his younger brother, Andrew, over him, simply because Andrew possessed qualities that Maxwell Squalor deemed more valuable.
Carmelita had come to Esmé not long ago with regrets of how she'd treated both the Baudelaires and the Quagmires. And so, even though Esmé knew the orphans had every right to be angry with Carmelita over her behavior, Esmé still felt she needed to say something. Even if the Carmelita Violet had spoken ill of wasn't the same Carmelita Esmé knew.
"She's sorry," Esmé said, and prayed that this was true of all the Carmelitas there were in the world. "She feels such regret for the way she treated all of you. If she were here now, then I've no doubt she'd apologize to you."
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Jul 29, 2010 12:15:28 GMT -5
Violet blushed, as she suddenly realized how insensitive she might have sounded.
"That's, uh, nice," muttered Violet, as her face turned red. "We hadn't run into your counterpart or Carmelita, since the incident at the Hotel Denouement - but, last I heard, the two had moved to another state. It would be nice if our Carmelita also repented."
"I don't know what all is the same and different between our worlds," added Quigley, "but, yeah, I'm sure she meant no offence. I guess she was just upset that the girl who treated us badly was the one to get special treatment, making it something of a double whammy."
"Of course," added Violet, "it would still have bothered me, even if she didn't actively pick on us - or even if... if she was our friend. Still, the fact that she was mean to us just... In the end, I guess it's a good thing that we didn't retaliate. Not only was I always a little more restrained than my brother, but I think the fact that Carmelita got special treatment was a part why I was afraid to fight back. I knew she could just rat us out to Vice Principal Nero, and then we'd be back into Count Olaf's clutches."
"We should probably change the subject," suggested Quigley. "During the year that the Baudelaires were on the island, Hector was our guardian. We then went to live with Dr. Emmett Brown in Hill Valley. Even though our grandmother also lived there, she was getting a bit... older. As such, she wasn't really able to be our guardian. We do visit her a lot, though."
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Jul 29, 2010 16:39:29 GMT -5
"You wouldn't happen to be referring to the same Hector who lives in the Village of Fowl Devotees," Jerome asked, his green eyes lighting up like emeralds at the possibility. "Because, if you are, he's my cousin." He paused. "Well, at least where I come from, he is."
"I wonder if the events leading up to the fire at the hotel are the same in both our worlds," Esmé speculated. "They seem to be, considering you and Carmelita first encountered each other at Prufrock Prep."
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Post by Michelle Denouement on Jul 30, 2010 21:12:23 GMT -5
Fiona came out of the bathroom and said, "Sorry, everybody. I had to make a call. The only place it gets reception here is in the bathroom."
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Jul 30, 2010 23:07:40 GMT -5
"Welcome back, Fiona," Violet greeted, smiling. Turning to Esme and Jerome, he added, "Yeap, you are right and right. It was Hector from the Village of Fowl Devotees."
"I always wondered if that was the original VFD schism," added Quigley. "Perhaps, the Village of Fowl Devotees - some 250 years ago - got annoyed with the Volunteer Fire department's embracing of technology. So, as such, they formed their own community. Even though they treated their own people brutally - they were, at least, mostly peaceful towards the group they left."
"That's a good question," replied Quigley. "Perhaps, the same is also true of Volunteers Fighting Disease. I think they were probably more beatniks, than they were hippies."
"So, Emily, where do you live?" asked Violet.
"I live in Bea's dreamworld," explained Emily. "It's full of rainbows, flowers, birds, butterflies, lollipops and other sweets, carnivals rides, and rock music by bands like Led Zeppelin. Y'know, stuff that little kids typically like."
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Jul 31, 2010 11:30:40 GMT -5
"We were wondering where you disappeared to," Esmé said, as Fiona emerged from the bathroom. "I suppose this dimension isn't as different from ours as one would typically think - considering the analogous telephone reception."
"I wouldn't be surprised if either of those two theories proved correct," Jerome said, referring to Quigley's two speculations concerning the V.F.D. schism. "Aunt Anabel - Hector's mother - was never too clear on the details when my mother and I went to visit them. Though my aunt hated residing so far away from the city where she grew up, she had no choice. You see, she eloped with a man her mother didn't approve of - he was poor, whereas her family very wealthy. Then, years later, after her parents were gone, my aunt contacted my father with the news that her husband had been killed in an automobile accident. Though he agreed to send her money, he requested that she never contact him again, believing that doing so would bring shame to the family."
"Maxwell Squalor is a very cold man," Esmé said sadly. She then turned to Emily, hoping that the child's presence would help take the woman's mind off her sorrow. Unsurprisingly it worked, for all Emily had to do was smile up at Esmé before the former villainess felt all of her sadness melt away like ice-cream in the sun. "Your world sounds like a lovely place, darling. When I was a little girl, I used to only dream of places like that. And when I woke up, sometimes I would draw pictures of what I'd seen and the places I'd been to, just so I could remember them."
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Post by Seymour Glass on Jul 31, 2010 11:59:54 GMT -5
"Quigley, Duncan, and I still live with Hector," Isadora said. "He makes great chicken fajitas."
"Hey, Fiona," Klaus said. "What year did you come from?"
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Aug 1, 2010 9:54:03 GMT -5
"My uncle died died before I got a chance to meet him," Jerome said. "But from what my aunt told me, he was quite a whiz in the kitchen. He could cook just about anything, but his specialty was always Mexican. My aunt even gave my mother some of his recipes."
"Does Cora still have them?" Esmé asked. "If she does, then perhaps you can ask her for them and cook something for me one of these days."
Jerome smiled gently. "I offered to do that once before, remember? You said spicy food didn't agree with you."
"That was when I was still associating with Olaf and obsessing over my weight." Esmé laced her arms through Jerome's and lay her head against his shoulder. "But he's no longer a part of my life, and so I've no reason to be so concerned." Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and she turned to Violet and Quigley, as well as Klaus. "From what I remember, Sunny was also quite the chef. Tell me: is she still enhancing her talents?"
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Post by Michelle Denouement on Aug 1, 2010 12:06:22 GMT -5
Fiona turned to Klaus and replied, "2010. It's almost 2011 where I'm from. Five days until Christmas day. I won't be going back to San Francisco for the holidays. It's like 10 timezones behind from where I am now, in Beirut. Serious jet lag, man!"
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Aug 1, 2010 13:48:10 GMT -5
"You bet she is," Violet replied, smiling indulgently. "All of her friends seem to really love her cooking. Her teacher, though, did express concern about us letting her use the stove."
"Which is understandable," added Quigley. "We trust her to be very careful, though."
"That sounds so lovely, Esme?" Emily replied, smiling. "Say, what do you all think about Led Zeppelin?"
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Aug 1, 2010 21:26:57 GMT -5
Esmé bestowed one of her sweetest smiles upon the little girl before replying. "They're one of my favorite bands - though it wasn't always that way, I'm afraid. Like many people, I associated Led Zeppelin with being a strictly heavy metal band. And my preferred genre had always been pop. It wasn't until I began attending the V.F.D. Training School that my opinion changed - thanks to a little persuasion by Bertrand Baudelaire, whom I dated during my years there."
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Aug 2, 2010 14:03:13 GMT -5
"My favourite Led Zeppelin song is Rock and Roll," explained Emily. "It's so bouncy."
"Mine is Over the Hills and Far Away," added Quigley. "It makes me cry, though."
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